With about 15 minutes before we went on the air, Kasich canceled; his campaign said they did not want to field questions, but from the beginning the Talk of the Nation staff made it clear that there would be questions from listeners.

“I’m stunned about the Kasich decision,” NPR host Ken Rudin said. “And again, as all of us feel, we’d rather have both candidates. Both candidates were scheduled. Both candidates agreed to this format until 10 minutes ago…John Kasich said, ‘No.’ So we will continue the story on the Ohio gubernatorial race.”